The present invention relates to an apparatus for receiving and analyzing air data quantities and more particularly, the invention relates to an apparatus and method of use of the apparatus for determining, quantifying and analyzing air quantities in real time during a flight of the aircraft.
In this area of technology, it is most desirable to have a technique for real time aerodynamic modeling of an aircraft. The technique, known as RAMI (Real-Time Aerodynamic Model Identification) as well as other aircraft modeling flight test programs require the measure of aircraft airflow angle such as the angles of attack and side slip. In the typical prior art, one of the more favored techniques for the measurement of these parameters relies on an externally mounted nose boom vanes or nose cone equipped with pressure sensors. These installations are time consuming and require actual hook ups with electrical wiring to the aircraft. In this manner, the aircraft ends up being modified to install the modeling equipment. This is obviously expensive and compromises the airworthiness of the aircraft in view of the fact that such modifications to the bulkhead, firewall and other critical components in the structure of the aircraft.
It would be desirable if there were assembly and a method using the assembly to determine selected air data quantities which did not require any modification of the aircraft or structural integrity compromise. The present invention seeks to solve this problem with a system that can be immediately instituted without any structural modification to the aircraft itself.
One object of the present invention is to provide an improved system and a method for determining air data quantities real time while the aircraft is in flight.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a nose cone overlay suitable for positioning on the nose cone of an aircraft for obtaining air data quantities, the nose cone having an interior and an exterior, comprising: a body for releaseable engagement with the nose cone, the body being independent of the interior of the nose cone, the body including: mounting means for releaseably mounting the body to the nose cone; a plurality of pressure transducers on the body for receiving air data quantities during flight of the aircraft; an electronic circuit connected to the pressure transducers on the body for processing received air data quantities during flight; a power source for supplying power to the electronic circuit; and a wireless transmitting means for transmitting received air data quantities to a central processing unit.
It has been found that the overlay is particularly useful for retro fit onto the nose cone of an aircraft. After extensive testing procedures and other airworthiness examinations, it was found that pressure sensitive adhesive could be employed to maintain the overlay on the nose cone under a variety of climatic conditions.
As a further advantage, the pressure transducers were found to be particularly useful when employed in the instant invention. It was also realized that the pressure transducers were particularly useful in acquiring the data required.
A further object of one embodiment of the present invention is to provide a nose cone assembly for positioning on an aircraft for obtaining air data quantities, the assembly comprising: a nose cone having an interior and exterior; a self-contained overlay for releaseable engagement with the nose cone overlay being independent of the interior of the nose cone, the overlay including: mounting means for releaseably mounting the overlay to the nose cone; a plurality of pressure transducers on the overlay for receiving air quantities during flight of the aircraft; an electronic circuit connected to the pressure transducers in the overlay for processing received air data quantities during flight; a power source for providing power to the electronic circuit; and a wireless transmitting means for transmitting required air data quantities to a central processing unit.
One of the advantages of the present invention is that it can be easily installed and removed without any damage to the aircraft whatsoever. This is a marked improvement over what has been proposed in the prior art since prior art arrangements relied on extensive modifications of the aircraft, which in most case is brought into question the airworthiness of the aircraft after installation and subsequent removal. The present invention provides an expedited method and apparatus for determining real time data. Once the data has been collected, the overlay of the nose cone can simply be removed and the aircraft thus restored to its original pristine condition.
In accordance with a further object of one embodiment of the present invention there is provided a method of determining air data quantities such as pressure, angle of attack and side slip experienced by an aircraft during flight, comprising the steps of: providing a self-contained and removable nose cone assembly for mounting to a nose cone of an aircraft, the assembly having means for sensing and transmitting the air data quantities; providing a CPU located remotely from the assembly for receiving and analyzing transmitted air quantities; mounting the assembly to a nose cone of an aircraft; collecting the air quantity data; transmitting collected data to the CPU; and determining the air quantities.
Having thus described the invention, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings illustrating preferred embodiments.